The stranger's gaze slowly turned to Xiao Xing Yun, as though noticing an annoying insect buzzing nearby. His smile faded.
"Enemy?" The man mused softly, almost to himself. "How amusing. You think ants can declare war on a dragon?"
Without warning, he raised his eyebrow.
BOOM!
An invisible shockwave exploded outward. The entire hall trembled violently, cracks spiderwebbing across the pristine jade floor. The ice pillars shuddered, some shattering into shards with ear-piercing cracks.
The pressure was unbearable. Like the weight of the sky itself had descended upon them.
Every person in the hall collapsed to their knees, gasping for breath. Their Xuan Qi shields flickered and shattered like brittle glass.
Even Han Fengxue stood trembling under the crushing weight of that unimaginable pressure. His teeth ground together, veins bulging across his temples as cold sweat poured down his wrinkled forehead. His Supreme Peak cultivation, once an unshakable fortress, now felt like brittle glass beneath the weight of an avalanche.
The ancient ice beneath his feet, condensed and hardened over thousands of years by nature's relentless hand, cracked with sharp, ear-piercing snaps. His knees, despite his desperate struggle to remain upright, buckled and drove into the frozen floor, carving deep trenches into the crystalline surface.
The once-pristine jade marble groaned in protest, spiderweb cracks spreading outward like a shattered mirror reflecting his fractured composure.
Han Fengxue's eyes, usually sharp and discerning, flickered with disbelief and rising dread. He was the Third of the Eight Great Masters, a title that had commanded respect and fear for decades.
And yet, at this moment, he felt like an ant crushed beneath an unseen foot, suffocating under a force that defied reason.
"This... this is no mortal strength…!" He rasped, his voice hoarse and broken, barely audible over the rumble of fractured ice and the pounding of his own heartbeat. "Beyond Supreme Realm? No… it feels like the very wrath of the heavens themselves!"
It was not just power, it was dominion, an absolute suppression that ignored cultivation boundaries entirely.
Han Fengxue, who had once stood at the pinnacle of the world, now knelt, his pride shattered like the ice beneath him.
Demon Lord chuckled. "Supreme? Such a pitiful realm."
He waved his hand dismissively. "In front of true power, your so-called 'Eight Great Masters' are nothing more than frogs in a well, croaking about the sky they've never seen."
On the other side of the hall, Xiao Xing Yun didn't fare as well. He had been the loudest, the most arrogant. And fate had a sense of irony.
The shockwave blasted him off his feet like a rag doll, hurling him across the chamber. He slammed into an ice pillar with a sickening crunch, the impact shattering both the pillar and several of his ribs. Blood sprayed from his mouth as he slumped to the ground, wheezing.
The stranger's golden eyes flicked toward the fallen elder, cold and unforgiving.
"You talk too much."
Silence enveloped the hall, broken only by the ragged breathing of those struggling to resist the overwhelming pressure.
Finally, the stranger turned back to Han Fengxue, who stood pale but defiant.
"Your city," The stranger said slowly, "was doomed the moment it sheltered mad dogs like the Xiao Family. My brother needs not dirty his hands."
He smiled, sharp and predatory. "You'll destroy yourselves soon enough."
With that final, chilling declaration, the oppressive aura vanished like mist under the sun.
The hall, once vibrant and majestic, now looked like the aftermath of a battlefield—shattered pillars, cracked floors, and fallen elders gasping for breath.
The stranger stepped backward, his form beginning to blur as space folded around him once more. But just before the portal swallowed him, he glanced at the trembling assembly and chuckled darkly.
"In the absence of the tiger, the dogs climbed the mountain…" His voice echoed, low and mocking. "But now that the tiger is back, and angry, how many dogs will survive the hunt?"
The portal snapped shut with a final crack, leaving behind only silence… and fear.
----
Autumn was upon the Tian Xiang country.
And the autumn was growing!
On the surface of it, the Tian Xiang country was having a very quiet autumn, but it concealed the surge of several birds in its secrecy. At least hundreds of birds have started to flap their wings and were flying into the sky, drawing a beautiful trajectory.
Many advanced-level Xuans had suddenly ended their closed-door practice after several years and had come out of their place of hiding to shuttle the streets of the Tian Xiang Empire's capital, listening to every gossip and paying attention to every unusual action. Like dutiful detectives, they had started to closely investigate the dark side of the capital.
Moreover, word would spread throughout the entire continent in a few days, and many people would end up being caught in the excitement after receiving the message, and would make their way to the Tian Xiang Empire soon.
Apart from this one, there was another piece of news that was causing a sensation.
Unexpectedly.....
There were riots inside the Tian Xiang imperial city a little while ago, and the northern part of the city was destroyed overnight. The Tang Family had gone on an unbridled and unrestrained manhunt, and this whole incident had caused them some serious losses in man-power. It would appear that they had lost something very valuable.
This item turned out to be a ninth-grade beast Xuan's Xuan Core.
Even though this news wasn't confirmed, someone had mentioned this to be the reason behind the unrest, and the rumor quickly took wings and spread throughout the continent in a very short period of time.
"This is a great opportunity! We must seize the Xuan Core!"
------
At the Jun Family
Jun Mo Xie led Jun Wu Yi toward a secluded cottage nestled deep within his courtyard. The scent of medicinal herbs drifted in the air, mingling with the crisp morning breeze.
The small wooden structure stood sturdy, yet there was an undeniable heaviness surrounding it, an invisible shroud of sorrow and cruelty that refused to dissipate.
Jun Wu Yi walked beside his nephew, his steps steady but his heart heavy. He had seen countless tragedies in his lifetime and witnessed the horrors of war and the savagery of men who abandoned their humanity for power.
But what lay beyond that door… Even thinking about it sent a chill down his spine.
His voice was calm yet tinged with an unspoken pain. "Mo Xie, how are the children?"
Jun Mo Xie halted for a moment, his gaze fixed on the simple wooden door before him. A bitter smile tugged at the corner of his lips, but his eyes held nothing but darkness. "They're alive."
His tone was cold, yet beneath it, there was a quiet fury, an anger that simmered beneath the surface, threatening to erupt at any moment. "Barely."
--- ✦ ✦ ✦ ---
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